Canada not being seen as serious country
In recent weeks, Canadians have been embarrassed not once, but twice. The first was Prime Minister Trudeau’s humiliating rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody in a hotel room in London during his visit to pay his condolences on our behalf over the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Apparently, his knowledge of how to be a dignified head of state on a solemn occasion was lacking.
The second incident was when a teacher in Ontario showed up with huge prosthetic breasts to teach his shop class. Pictures of it went viral and the entire world was talking about it. I am sure there are very few people who haven’t seen the visual of that. In a way, that incident was even more controversial than the prime minister’s indiscretion.
We deserve better than this. When our country is humiliated it reflects badly on all of us. It doesn’t matter how remote or out of the mainstream our community is, we are all Canadians, and we all share in our common identity and reputation. The Cowichan Valley is no exception.
And this brings us to another consideration: is Canada a serious country anymore? When the world looks at us does it see a country that should be respected or does it see a foolish place full of outlandish policies and aberrant behaviour? Considering the number of times we have been embarrassed by our prime minister and the growing radicalism of our institutions, it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out how the world is feeling about us.
It’s shameful that so many of us are blindly accepting incidents like the ones described above and just shrugging our shoulders as though nothing can be done about it. It doesn’t have to be that way. Canada is a great nation, but for it to remain so we need to restore our pride in ourselves and the vital element of common sense that seems to be less and less common these days.
Perry Foster
Duncan